Conventionally, packages of software have been formed from proprietary applications. These applications have generally been provided by a single source or by industry partners such that the applications have been developed in a coordinated way to facilitate such packaging. However, the assembly and use of such packages has generally been limited by associated licenses. More recently, open source software has grown rapidly in importance and availability. Generally, open source software is software where the source code is available for copying and modification and whose licenses generally give the user freedom to use the software for any purpose as well as to modify and redistribute the software. In this regard, open source software is distinguished from proprietary software in that the source code of proprietary software is generally not made available to the end user and the licenses for proprietary software generally place significant restrictions on use, copying, modification and redistribution. In addition, open source software is generally made available for free or for a reasonable reproduction fee whereas proprietary software is frequently provided on a for profit basis.
Open source software has a number of potential advantages for end users. First, because the source code is available to the end user and the licenses allow for substantial freedom of use and modification, the end user has significant flexibility to adapt and optimize the code for a particular endeavor. In this regard, the end user is not tied into a particular proprietary system. In addition, studies have shown that open source software tends to be of very high quality. That is, due to the open nature of the software and the opportunity for virtually unlimited peer review, the open source software is generally continually improving in quality. Moreover, because the open source software is generally available for free or at a nominal cost, there is a significant potential to use the open source software in a cost effective manner. For these and other reasons, many governments and other entities have mandated or encouraged a transition from proprietary software to open source software for systems under their control.
At the present time, however, significant obstacles remain with respect to fully realizing the potential advantages of open source software or other independently developed or uncoordinated software. One such challenge is assembling software stacks. Typically, a software system, application or tool (“project”) does not function in isolation. Rather, a particular project may require another project (e.g., open source or proprietary) as a prerequisite to its proper operation and, once installed, may be used by other projects. Because of these vertical dependency relationships, end users often require or desire a software stack including multiple projects. Assembling such stacks involves identifying individual projects required for an endeavor as well as addressing the dependency relationships. This may require significant expertise and time. Although some open source providers offer coordinated projects or stacks, open source software tends to be uncoordinated.
Another difficulty associated with the use of uncoordinated software such as certain open source software relates to installation. Installation involves addressing various machine configuration issues, integrating software projects, resolving conflicts and testing for proper interoperation of the individual projects as well as interoperation between the projects and machine components. Again, installation often requires significant expertise and time.
In addition, there are a number of post-installation issues relating to the use of such uncoordinated software. For example, the use of any software may require occasional reference to user manuals and other documentation. Such documentation may not be readily available in the context of a stack including multiple uncoordinated (e.g., open source). Even when documentation is available for individual projects, such documentation may not be adapted for the environment of a particular software stack. Similarly, training materials such as tutorials may not be available or optimized for a software stack environment. Other post-installation issues relate to uninstalling projects or altering installed projects or stacks.